Tuning In: Fouracre to host spiritual sports show on Emmanuel Radio

Rev. Earle Markey said he chose the priesthood over playing for the Celtics in part because the team already had Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman in the backcourt.

Former Holy Cross athletic director Ron Perry said he turned to God for help in making every important decision.

HC associate athletic director Ann Ash Zelesky said she put her trust in the Lord when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.

These were some of the nuggets of information Bob Fouracre gleaned from interviews that will air on "Lift High the Cross," a 30-minute weekly show that will debut at 4 p.m. Saturday on Emmanuel Radio (1230 AM), the local affiliate of the Catholic Radio Network. A different interview will run each Saturday and repeat at 9 a.m. Sundays. Each will delve into a person's sporting career and spiritual life.

Fouracre, the longtime radio voice of HC football and basketball, said he has conducted thousands of interviews in his more than 50 years as a sportscaster, but these will be the first delving into people's faith.

"It's really exciting, refreshing and inspiring," Fouracre said. "We're talking to people who have always been strong believers. They pray before games, and we talk about stuff like that."

Emmanuel Radio general manager Cindy Dorsey said despite the show's name, it won't be limited to people from Holy Cross. Well-known Catholics from throughout the Diocese of Worcester will be interviewed. Fouracre said people with sports backgrounds will account for nearly all of the interview subjects.

The interview with Rev. Markey, a former HC hoop star who was drafted by the Celtics in the fourth round in 1953 but entered the priesthood and became HC's vice president for student affairs, will air this week. Interviews with former HC basketball great Togo Palazzi, Perry and Zelesky will follow. Depending on how the show is received, more shows may be produced.

"We're trying to present to our listeners," Dorsey said, "real stories from the heart of people that they live and work with who have inspiring stories about their faith in their own lives."

On Saturday, Aug. 31, Fouracre will begin his 27th year of calling HC football on radio when the Crusaders visit Bryant at 3 p.m. on WTAG (580 AM, 94.9 FM). Fouracre, 75, said he hasn't lost any passion.

"I'll be as excited on Aug. 31 as I was in September of 1962 when I did the Tantasqua-Holliston football game at Holliston High School," said Fouracre, referring to the first game he broadcast on radio.

Tom Kelleher will provide the color commentary for the opener and for most HC games. Gordie Lockbaum will fill in for Kelleher on occasion. Kelleher paid his own way from Miami to the games for the past couple of seasons, but he has relocated to Marblehead.

"They'll be better," Fouracre said of the Crusaders, who were 2-9 last season.

Dorsey said Emmanuel Radio plans to carry HC men's and women's basketball for the second year this coming season.

Hoping for a Remy return

Here's hoping that Jerry Remy will return to Red Sox broadcasts. It's understandable that Remy, who has battled cancer and depression in recent years, needed to take some time off after his son was arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend, but the Sox analyst shouldn't have to hide in shame for the rest of his life. Remy is a very private person who works in the public eye, but he didn't do anything wrong.

Celtics switch stations

After the Celtics parted ways with flagship station WEEI, it looks like they'll switch to a combination of 98.5 The Sports Hub and its CBS sister station WBZ (1030 AM).

The Celtics had appeared on WEEI (first 850 AM, then 93.7 FM) since their championship season of 2007-08, but Entercom Boston vice president/market manager Jeff Brown said in a statement this week that WEEI no longer will carry the team's games.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to come to terms on a new contract moving forward," Brown said.

WEEI, having fallen behind the Sports Hub in the ratings, has been cutting costs, and the Celtics appear to be the latest victim. WEEI's announcement came very late, less than two months before the Celtics open their preseason schedule on Oct. 7, not leaving the team much time to arrange a network of affiliates.

WEEI affiliate WVEI (1440 AM) in Worcester has carried the Celtics for many years, but that era appears over.

If the Sports Hub acquires the Celtics radio rights, some games will have to be bumped to WBZ or another station because 98.5 already carries Bruins games.

Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell are expected to return as Celtics radio announcers, no matter which station ends up carrying the games.

Since June, WEEI has aired a new Celtics show, "Celtics Summer Cooler," which Grande and Maxwell co-host on Saturdays.

The last of those shows is scheduled to air from 1-3 p.m. Saturday.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.

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